Jersey City Redevelopment Agency v. Team Rhodi, LLC

CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedMay 23, 2025
DocketA-3518-23
StatusUnpublished

This text of Jersey City Redevelopment Agency v. Team Rhodi, LLC (Jersey City Redevelopment Agency v. Team Rhodi, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jersey City Redevelopment Agency v. Team Rhodi, LLC, (N.J. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-3518-23

JERSEY CITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

TEAM RHODI, LLC,

Defendant-Respondent. ____________________________

Argued December 19, 2024 – Decided May 23, 2025

Before Judges Mawla, Natali, and Vinci.

On appeal from an interlocutory order of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Hudson County, Docket No. L-4592-18.

Paul V. Fernicola argued the cause for appellant (Paul V. Fernicola & Associates, LLC, attorneys; Paul V. Fernicola, of counsel and on the briefs; Robert E. Moore, on the briefs).

Anthony F. DellaPelle argued the cause for respondent (McKirdy, Riskin, Olson & DellaPelle, PC, attorneys; Anthony F. DellaPelle, of counsel; Michael Realbuto, on the brief). PER CURIAM

By leave granted, plaintiff Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA)

appeals from a June 7, 2024 order denying its motion in limine to bar defendant

Team Rhodi, LLC (Team Rhodi) from presenting to the jury the opinions

contained in the expert appraisal report of Maurice J. Stack, II, MAI, CRE. For

the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Team Rhodi is the former owner of property identified as "Block 19003,

Lots 1-7 on the tax map of the City of Jersey City and located at 323, 319 -21,

317, 315, 313, 311[,] and 309 Johnston Avenue in Jersey City." JCRA instituted

this condemnation action by filing a verified complaint on November 16, 2018.

The court subsequently entered an order to show cause requiring Team Rhodi to

address why the following judgments should not be entered against it: (1) "[a]n

Order for Possession and a final judgment that [JCRA] ha[d] duly exercised its

power of eminent domain;" and (2) "in the event any party contest[ed] the

estimated compensation for any of the [s]ubject [p]roperties, judgment should

not be entered appointing three . . . disinterested commissioners . . . ."

The court, however, stayed the matter pending Team Rhodi's appeal of the

dismissal of its prerogative writ action challenging the adoption of the

A-3518-23 2 redevelopment designation and JCRA's authority to condemn its property. We

affirmed the court's decision, concluding Team Rhodi's appeal of the blight

designation was time-barred and finding "[t]he trial court did not abuse its

discretion by declining to enlarge the period of time provided in Rule 4:69-6(a)

by more than fifteen years." Team Rhodi, LLC v. Jersey City Redevelopment

Auth., No. A-3515-17 (App. Div. July 29, 2020) (slip. op. at 12-16).

After we denied Team Rhodi's appeal, the court entered an order

appointing commissioners and concluded JCRA was "duly vested with and ha[d]

duly exercised its powers of [e]minent [d]omain to acquire the subject property

of [Team Rhodi]." The appointed commissioners subsequently filed their report

with the court, and Team Rhodi filed a notice of appeal from the award with the

Law Division. The court granted Team Rhodi's motion, set the date of valuation

on June 3, 2019, and compelled JCRA to provide Team Rhodi with an updated

appraisal report of the property.

JCRA's expert appraiser, Mark W. Sussman, MAI, CRE, explained in his

report that "[t]he prior zoning for the subject property was R-2 Multi-Family

Attached Housing (four stories or less) District. The current zoning is Morris

Canal Redevelopment Area, Transit Oriented Development (TOD) West

District." According to Sussman, under the R-2 zoning scheme, "[t]he

A-3518-23 3 maximum permitted density . . . is [fifty-five] dwelling units per acre, and the

maximum permitted building height is [four] stories and [forty] feet."

Sussman concluded the highest and best use of the property as of June 3,

2019, was "development for multi-family residential use, and there is a

reasonable probability of a zone change or variance(s) to allow the subject

property to be developed at a density of 200 units per acre . . . , [which] results

in a total potential yield of [eighty-seven] residential units." Based upon that

use, Sussman concluded the estimated market value of the property was

$2,870,000. As part of his analysis, Sussman explained the property had yet to

receive the required zone change or use variances that would permit the highest

and best possible use. Thus, "in order to account for the subject property's added

risk and expense associated with obtaining the necessary zone change or use

variances, a downward adjustment was applied to all of the comparable

sales . . . ."

With respect to the relevant zoning scheme for the property, in his report,

Stack explained the Jersey City Municipal Council replaced the R-2 zoning

scheme with the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan. According to Stack, under

the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan, "[t]he maximum height for properties in

Block 19003 . . . is [eight] stories or [ninety] feet and an Affordable Housing

A-3518-23 4 Bonus for Block 19003 permits developers the right to a maximum density of

200 units/acre . . . ."

Given Stack's belief regarding the applicability of the Morris Canal

Redevelopment Plan, he concluded the highest and best possible use of the

property was "an [eight] story, mixed-use building with a gross floor area of

125,000+/- [square feet] . . . that facilitates [ninety-five] residential

units . . . , and is complemented by ground floor commercial space, attractive

amenities[,] and secure parking." In calculating the property's estimated market

value, Stack explained

a prospective buyer would acquire the subject property without approvals based on the reasonable probability that an as of right (AOR) development plan requiring modest deviations and variances would be approved by the Jersey City Planning Board . . . .

Nonetheless, an appropriate adjustment is warranted to account for an incremental value attributable to approvals secured by the seller in each transaction.

Based upon his analysis, Stack determined the market value of the property as

of the date of valuation was $7,200,000.

In addition to Stack's appraisal report, Team Rhodi submitted an expert

report from professional planner Jeff Wenger to "provide an opinion as to what

development approvals would have been reasonably probable to have been

A-3518-23 5 approved by the City of Jersey City for [the property] as of June 3, 2019." In an

effort to spur economic growth in Jersey City, Wenger explained the Division

of City Planning "did away with the idea of fixed zoning." Wenger characterized

the current zoning scheme as "negotiated zoning."

Given Jersey City's need for residential housing and the property's

proximity to public transportation, Wenger believed "it would be difficult for

the Division of City Planning to justify keeping the old R-2 zoning regulations

in place and not reconsider how much housing could be created on the site." He

ultimately concluded "the most likely approval to occur, [was] with a maximum

building height of [eight] stories, ground floor retail use, and up to 230 units per

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